Tired of mashed potatoes and gravy with your roast chicken? Here’s a classic dinner with a flavorful punch of fresh herbs — plus sweet roasted fennel and carrots, which absorb savory juices from the chicken by sharing the same pan.

There's something soul-satisfying about a warm casserole straight from the oven. Whether I'm making my grandma's chicken spaghetti (made with Velveeta and Rotel) or my favorite King Ranch (from scratch), I know all served will leave with full hearts and happy stomachs.

This was one of the first entries in our Best Healthy Casseroles contest, and I knew right away that it was a favorite. Why? Because I wanted to cook it immediately! This simple dish from reader Nancy takes just a few ingredients, and through the magic of the oven, transforms them into an aromatic dish of perfectly cooked rice studded with chicken and shiitake mushrooms, flavored with soy, ginger, and garlic.

This is one of those go-to weeknight meals that I can throw together with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back. Chewy pasta and gooey cheese are balanced out by a big helping of veggies with a little ground meat for protein. Add in a spicy kick and everyone leaves happy. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples at our house, and there's plenty of flexibility in the recipe to throw in whatever happens to be in-season or on-hand in your kitchen.

In my small Alabama hometown, a restaurant lives and dies by its chicken salad recipe. Heaven help the one that decides not to include the Southern staple on its menu. For the local "ladies who lunch" crowd, it is practically a food group, and it should not to be taken lightly.

Although chicken tikka masala is more British than Indian, you'd be hard-pressed to find an Indian restaurant that doesn't have this creamy, bright-orange dish featured prominently on its menu. But if you do, you're welcome to come to my house, where chicken tikka masala is on our regular monthly meal rotation. It's surprisingly easy to pull together, and I promise it's just as good as anything ordered off the take-out menu.

Q: My family and I live overseas. I'd like to buy a meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid to help diversify the ways we prepare chicken. We tend to stick to bone-in or boneless breasts, as we prefer the leaner cuts, but I'd love some other ideas on how to mix it up a bit more to ensure that dinner won't be too dry.

As much as I love eating out at fancy restaurants and watching TV shows like Top Chef, the cooking that is closest to my heart is home cooking — dishes that are humble and maybe a little homely, but feel like the food equivalent of a warm hug. This gingery chicken stir-fry is home cooking at its best: quick and simple to prepare, with a punch of flavor that manages to be both exciting and deeply comforting. Make it once and you might never call for Thai takeout again.